Chapter 2: Fondest Childhood Memory
Cristina, age 10
"Hey Cristina, know why your dad died?" a tall girl named Rochelle taunted. "You were such a rotten kid, he pro'ly spanked you so hard he got a heart attack!"
They were on the elementary school playground. The playground had a few lopsided metal swings, the standard see-saw, tire swing, and fake colored rock-climbing walls. Other children were present, but they knew more than their fair share of Rochelle; nobody came to Cristina's aid.
Rochelle the schoolyard bully and Cristina, the short spunky Asian girl. Cristina was, as usual, dressed all in black (she wore a Laura Ashley dress to school to escape her mother's wrath, then dove into her gym locker for her usual threads.) On a standard day, she wore a black t-shirt, black denim jeans, black socks, black-dyed sneakers, black rubber bracelets, black twine bracelets and dog collar, not to mention hastily applied black nail polish.
Cristina hated her dad right then. Hated her for leaving her when she needed him, hated him for all the teasing, and everything up to her life at this point. Her mother moved countless times after Dr. Yang died, and this was just another stop. In the past year, Cristina had moved to at least eight different towns and cities within the California area.
The kids at this school treated her like a freak. Ok, well, maybe wearing all black every day was a bit much, but the other kids weren't used to her biting personality. And it didn't help that she was the shortest girl in the class. Things just weren't going very well.
So she did what she did best—fight back, just like her dad taught her. Cristina punched the girl in the stomach, so hard that Rochelle lost her balance and fell onto her knees breathless and winded. Another punch landed squarely on Rochelle's eye, which blossomed into a large blue-black bruise.
Of course, Cristina landed in the principal's office. But she got off relatively easy, with a detention and a half-hour with the school shrink. She claimed Rochelle had used brute force, and all of the other witnesses (classmates) agreed in unison. Rochelle was placed on temporary probation for two weeks, and forced to serve detention for nearly a month.
Her mother was livid, "HOW could you act so unladylike Cristina! My own daughter! Whatever did I do to deserve this punishment?" but Cristina was used to this. She buried her head in her hands, and pretended to cry in earnest. When that didn't work, she told her mother Rochelle had initiated the fight and sent death threats her way. Within a week, Rochelle was kicked out of Rockwood Elementary.
From then on, nobody at Rockwood School messed with Cristina. Rumors spread that she had murdered her father with a pickax, others said she glared at him so hard his eyeballs fell out of his head.
Cristina, Intern at Seattle Grace
"You certainly look happy," a groggy Meredith spoke to Cristina over a cup of coffee.
"Oh, I was just thinking about my fondest childhood memory," Cristina mused absentmindedly.